Madrid--Australia young gun Nick Kyrgios knocked top seed Roger Federer out of the Madrid Open on Wednesday with a stunning 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (14/12) victory.
The second round contest took more than two and a half hours and denied top seed Federer any chance at a fifth title at the claycourt Masters event.
Kyrgios, who knocked Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon last year, sent down 22 aces to Federer's 15 and next faces John Isner of the United States.
"I've been playing well recently on the clay, so I knew I had a good chance to go out there and do well. I stuck to my game and served well and I got the win," said Kyrgios who was runner-up on clay at Estoril last weekend.
"I guess that's why you play the game, to play on these big courts against these big players. He's the greatest of all?time, no doubt."
Federer saved five match points in the deciding tiebreaker while having two of his own annulled by the big-hitting Australian youngster, ranked 35th.
"I couldn't return his first serve, I had a horrible performance on return of serve," said Federer. "That made life difficult for me.
"I'm disappointed with how I played on returns, and that cost me the match."
Nadal returned to his clay-court comfort zone, starting his campaign for a fifth Madrid Open title with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Steve Johnson.
The victory in 74 minutes lifted Nadal's clay record over Americans to a perfect 10-0 while the third seed improved to 12-3 on the surface this season.
The nine-time French Open champion has four Madrid titles and has played in six finals at his showcase home event.
He is aiming to extend his streak of winning at least one European ATP clay title leading into Roland Garros to 11 straight years.
Nadal goes on to face Italy's Simone Bolelli for a quarter-final spot.
AFP
